By building a career focused on environmental justice, RP alum Bailey Ward is creating change in her hometown

HAVING EARNED HER MASTER OF PUBLIC HEALTH DEGREE FROM UCLA, Bailey Ward considered plenty of options when it came to figuring out the first step in building a career.

Working on a farm in North Richmond proved the perfect place to start.

A postsecondary journey that led her from Middle College High School to UCLA undergraduate to graduate school and back again has given Ward the opportunity to return to her hometown and make an impact early in her career. 

When she came back, Ward joined the staff at Richmond’s Urban Tilth, a local nonprofit that “inspires, hires, and trains local residents to cultivate agriculture, feed our community, and restore relationships to land to build a more sustainable food system, within a just and healthier community.” 

As Urban Tilth’s Veggie Rx Project Manager, Ward manages two important aspects of the organization’s work. The first is the CalAIM program, which offers free produce to patients at LifeLong Medical Center with chronic health conditions. Patients who deal with diabetes, cancer or congestive heart failure might receive a “vegetable prescription”, which Urban Tilth then fills. 

Ward also helps to coordinate Urban Tilth’s partnership with LifeLong Medical’s residency program, helping doctors in training to learn how medicine and community health intertwine. 

If that wasn’t enough, Ward also serves in a part-time role with the public health nonprofit Physicians for Social Responsibility, where she works on issues of environmental health as an Environmental Justice Public Policy Associate. 

“I think for me, the goal was always to serve Richmond in some capacity. That’s kind of what ignited this passion for environmental justice,” Ward said. “When I was in college, Richmond was always used as an example in environmental justice classes. It was always Richmond and Hunters Point in San Francisco, which is where my mom was from. So, seeing my parents and the two places basically where I come from, used as an example of the worst cases of environmental justice, (my response) was always ‘OK, I need to come back and do work there.” 

Finding a calling to help her community is a matter of family history for Ward. Her great grandparents moved from Tennessee to Richmond in 1945, and in the 1970’s, her grandmother purchased a house in Richmond where Ward’s father would grow up.

As she grew up, Ward began to notice and take an interest in the differences between the neighborhood she grew up in, which sat closer to El Sobrante, and the South Richmond neighborhoods in which she spent much of her time with family.

Ward began to learn about the differences in health outcomes between neighborhoods and how influences like proximity to grocery stores, green space, and violence contribute to health. These analyses piqued her interest in how the environment plays a large part in health.

“I think also learning how race could play into the environment, that was a big thing for me,” Ward said. “And, understanding the history of Richmond, the history of African American migration in Richmond, and how that guided the way the city was built and where it is today, that really ignited something.”

Curiosity towards the topic led to action, even in high school. She landed an internship with the UC Berkeley Center for Environmental Research and Children’s Health in which she worked to help researchers understand gaps in air quality data in Richmond. She also participated in organizations like Groundwork Richmond, and by the time she left for UCLA, a path towards public health had already formed.

One avenue Ward found to give back to her community even while away at college came through her relationship with Richmond Promise. In addition to receiving the $1,500 annual scholarship, she served as a Summer Associate for the organization, helping RP staff provide important resources and counseling to incoming Scholars before they began their own postsecondary journeys.

“I have an older sister, and I feel like throughout high school, she was kind of the blueprint of what I wanted to do. I saw her go to college, so it was very easy to see myself being in college and doing the same thing,” Ward said. “So, I feel like working for Richmond Promise gave me the opportunity to be that for other people, and to just be a source of knowledge for other people, because not everybody has someone to guide them through that process.” 

How then does an organization like Richmond Promise benefit the city of Richmond as a whole?

Ward has an answer from both a student and staff perspective.

“Closing that gap between us and other cities, that education gap between what percentage of people go to college and those that don’t, I think that’s a big thing,” said Ward. “It’s also (important for) building networks and connections that weren’t already there. So many people around me have a different experience with the Richmond Promise. Like, one of the people I supervise was telling me that she was a Summer Associate. So, it’s really cool to see how we’re benefiting (as a city).

“It’s one piece of so many people’s stories going into their careers, and I think that’s super important. Providing that guidance that people wouldn’t otherwise have is super important.”

She is also part of a college-going generation that had their on-campus college experience cut short by COVID-19. Thanks to her work at Middle College, she already had an Associate’s degree before enrolling at UCLA. Midway through her sophomore year, the pandemic sent her back to Richmond, and she continued her studies remotely.

Even with that interruption, as well as the fact that her hometown sometimes served as a case study for the issues she now works to address, Ward sees the value in a postsecondary education and looks back on her own experience fondly.

“I would for sure do it all over again. I feel like, for me, it was a necessary part of my transition from childhood to adulthood,” she said. “College is like this middle point where you still have that support, but you’re also learning how to move without so much support, and you don’t feel like you have totally just been left to fend for yourself. So I feel like that was a big part of that transition.”

The long-term plan is to continue her work in environmental justice, and maybe one day she’ll consider transferring the skills she’s developing at Urban Tilth to an even larger platform.

No matter how big the stage, Richmond will always remain at the center of the story.

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Throughout 2026, Richmond Promise is celebrating its 10th year of serving Richmond students by sharing the stories of RP alumni now making an impact as part of the local workforce. To support the next generation of Richmond Promise Scholars, please visit the Give page. To suggest a Richmond Promise alum to be featured, email benos@richmondpromise.org.